Besides this, although both of the poems concentrate on ruining somebody's life, in "Education for Leisure" the voice really is killing whereas in "Those bastards" he merely imagines his crime. The fact that in Duffy's poem the voice in fact harms indicates that the persona is truly fed up with his situation and boredom and now he wants to be more active: "I have had enough of being ignored". By the long "o" in the word "ignored" we can feel that the disregard had taken place really long and as a result the voice has to try to be on the other side, to be the "God". In this passage, Duffy indicates that after a period of silence ("being ignored") usually comes the time of revolt. The upper class is fearful, because they cannot feel when the time comes, when the working-class will want to otherthrow them. Simon Armitage presents in "Those Bastards"quite different situation. The voice does not harm anyone. On the contrary to the voice in "Education for Leisure" he "sticks to the shadows, carries a gun". By the word "shadows" we can assume that at the ordinary day he is quiet and hides his anger in himself, he does not distinguish himself from the crowds, but he uses gun unexpectedly. Moreover, gun causes quick death, therefore it is a dangerous weapon. The upper classes are scared that they may be attacked by those shadows, by those grey crowds in any time, not knowing where and their death will be. To sum up, although persona in "Education for Leisure" kills and in "Those Bastards" carries a gun, they can both cause unpreductble harm or revolt - this is what scares the upper class.
Furthermore, both persona are lonely. In "Education for Leisure" it is emphasized by the image of emptiness - "There is nothing left to kill". The special effect on the reader has here the word "nothing" - it underlines the loneliness. In "Those bastards" the theme of being alone is emphasized by the pronoun "I" in comparison to "they". The juxtaposition of singular and plural person makes the persona even more disspossesed of society. The lack of company leads to boredom. When a person has nothing to do he concentrates more on himself and is bitter. He starts to made up such stories as the persona in "Those Bastards" and thinks more and more about the revolt. The upper class is scared of the revolt, because they are contented with their lives on contradiction to the lonesome unemployed.
In addition, both poems use the religious references. In "Education for Leisure" the voice not only admits "I am giong to play God", but also uses the quotation from the Genesis, Old Testament: "I see that it is good". According to the Bible, when God created the world he saw that this is good. The persona also uses this phrase, but he destroys. This causes a shock in the reader, because not many have he courage to compare themselves to God whereas they do something completely opposite than him. We see with our objective minds that the persona is a psycho and we understand why the upper class is scared of such human beings. Moreover, in "Those Bastards" the voice compares himself to the Prometheus, a mythological God. Like him, he trespasses the wealthiest ones property and steals the light and give "heat and light to streets and houses". The upper class is scared that they will loose their property. Moreover, by claiming that they are Gods, both personas have a great confidence, they are deluded and they feel that they can otherthrow the elite - that's why she is scared.
Moreover, the tone of those two poems differ in order to emphasize two types of the disspossesed. Although both of them are duturbing and shocking (we feel endangered) "Education for Leisure" evokes also the feeling of boredom, loneliness, irony and pity. The fragment "[...] It is an ordinary day, a sort of grey with boredom stirring in the streets" especially emphasizes dullness. We can see here lots of long vowels "o" and some "i", "r" an "y" which make the whole passage longer and as a result underline the way how time passes when we are bored - slowly. Also the word "stirring" reflects the slow movement of time. Moreover, in the whole stanza Duffy uses similar rhyme (ending with an -ey) to indicate boredom. The author also shows the desperation of the persona in the fragment: "Today I am going to kill something. Anything". She indicates that as the result of boredom the voice is not fastidious and therefore he will kill anything which is nearby. We pity him, but at the same time we are shocked. Reading "Education for Leisure" makes us feel powerless like the upper-class - we fully understand that the elite is scared of psychos, who are desperated and deluded.
On contrary the tone of "Those Bastards" is much more aggresive and violent. First of all, the persona describes the affluent ones using curses and irony ("Those lords and ladies in their palaces and castles"). Now we understand that the upper-class is scared, when they hear such unpleasant descriptions of them. Moreover, the voice uses very violent, abrupt words to describe his trespassing and his imaginary actions. Words such as "picked", "grilled", "pinned" are sharp, because they use short letters as "i" and evoke tragic images (somebody being grilled in fire). Besides this, in the poem there are numerous words "and", which speed up the text and emphasize the rapid pace of the revolt (which also shows why the upper class is scared). The last line of the poem is a contrast - the voice refers to "me" (not "they") - switches from singular to plural, the line does not rhyme and is short. This use of device makes the reader feel shocked by the ending of the poem. The whole tone of the poem reflects why the upper-classes are scared of the lower-classes - they fear the aggression and the violence.
Moreover, also the structure enhances the personas in the poem and shows social division. In "Education for Leisure" there are 5 stanzas, with the equal number of lines. This is made in order to emphasize the boredom of the voice's life. Again, the boredom leads often to over-confidence and the will to revolt. Duffy states that the lack of job is one of the main causes of the revolt, which is feared by the upper classes. "Those Bastards" is a changed sonnet (for example, the couplet consists of one line). Sonnets usually described love and in this case Armitage uses this form to present the opposite of the love - hate. He wants to show the anger of working-class in a changed sonnet to even more emphasized by contrast lower-class bitterness.
Furthermore, both poems are written in the first person. As I have mentioned before, Armitage and Duffy had left-winged opinions, so they make you more sympathetic and involved in the feelings of working class. Others argue that the authors use the dramatic monologue to emphasize the exclusion and loneliness of the character. Those states, as I have pointed out before often lead to the revolt.
To conlude, "Those Bastards" and "Education for Leisure" both show a socially excluded person, whose actions araise fear and shock, but they are presented in dissimilar way - tone, structure and techniques, which are used by Duffy and Armitage differ.
Marta Szczerba, 10.1
